SPEED and traffic light cameras are meant to reduce accidents by discouraging motorists from being too lead-footed or beating the lights.
But some residents believe that a traffic light camera along a stretch of Loyang Avenue could be a contributing factor in a spate of accidents.
The reason: Drivers who notice the traffic light or the camera too late may brake too abruptly, causing them to either lose control of their vehicles or have other cars crash into them.
Residents who live along the stretch of road say accidents happen so often there that they are no longer surprised when they hear screeching tyres followed by loud bangs.
On May 2, a heavy vehicle carrying soil crashed through the centre divider and flipped on its side along Loyang Avenue, near Block 275, Pasir Ris Street 21.
The crash occurred about 100m before the traffic lights.
Ms Liz Chai, 49, a customer service manager, saw the accident as she was getting out of her eighth-floor unit around 11 am.
She said: 'The lorry was swerving left and right for one to two minutes before it suddenly went over (the divider). We could see blood and some white bags which had fallen out of the vehicle.
'It sounded like someone had thrown furniture down the block.'
The lorry driver, in his 50s, was sent to Changi Hospital with head and neck injuries.
Ms Chai reckoned that the lorry was travelling at about 70 kmh when it crashed.
Another resident, Mr Peter Soh, 52, a steel fabricator, said: 'The lorry must've been going fast to break the steel barrier.'
Residents The New Paper spoke to said the traffic light camera and the downhill slope could have led to the accident.
Mr Surani Kastam, 49, a personal driver who has lived in the area for the last 10 years, said: 'I think it is because of the camera at the traffic light. The road is downhill and people tend to speed.
'When they realise the camera is there, they jam their brakes.'
There have been two major accidents in just the last six months along the 4km stretch.
Last month, The New Paper reported that three people died when the car they were in crashed into a tree and caught fire.
Five-car crash
Last December, there was a five-car crash along the same stretch which killed a 49-year-old motorist.
On Sunday, The Straits Times reported that Loyang Valley residents were fed up with the dangers they face daily.
The former chairman of the Automobile Association of Singapore, Mr Gerard Ee, suggested that a combination of factors such as speed cameras and warning signs to deter people should be used.
'A great majority will react to this,' he said. 'The handful who think they can get away with it have to be taken to task.
'Unfortunately, they don't realise that road safety involves everyone playing a part.
'So strict enforcement will have to be used.'
Witnesses to yesterday's accident should call the police at 1800-547-1818.
